Manifest Destiny Notes

Events

1836 Texas declares independence from Mexico, Battle of the Alamo, Congress refuses to annex Texas

1841 John Tyler becomes president upon Harrison’s death

1842 Congress passes Tariff of 1842 1844 James K. Polk is elected president

1845 United States annexes Texas, Congress is

presented with Wilmot Proviso

1846 United States and Britain resolve dispute over Oregon, Mexican War erupts 1847 General Winfield Scott captures Mexico City

1848 United States and Mexico sign Treaty

of Guadalupe Hidalgo

1849 Peak of California Gold Rush

Manifest Destiny

During the 1830s and 1840s, American nationalism and westward expansion had merged into the widespread belief in manifest destiny. Proud of their democratic roots and traditions, faced with a seemingly boundless continent, many Americans thought of themselves as the forbearers of freedom.

Nationalistic revivalist preachers added fuel to the fire by proclaiming that Americans were God’s chosen people and that it was their right and duty to spread democracy and Protestantism from sea to shining sea. Many also looked to nearby Canada and Mexico, and even as far away as South America.

Whereas the Old World had been dominated by monarchy and aristocracy, Americans were determined that the whole of the New World would be free.

Western Trails

Settlers moving west took any of several major routes, most of which started in Missouri. Of these, the Oregon Trail is most famous. Hundreds of thousands of Americans moved to Oregon Territory (now Washington, Oregon, and Idaho) during the years before the Civil War, most of them settling in the fertile Willamette Valley.

The Mormon Trail to Utah and Nevada was also popular, as was the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico, and the California Trail to Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area. Because there were no railroads in the West, the transcontinental journey had to be made in wagons or on horseback. Thousands even made most of the journey on foot.

Life in the West

People left their homes in the East for new opportunities, for adventure, or for religious reasons—or to strike it rich, after gold was discovered in California in 1848. Life on the trails and on the frontier was difficult because of weather, disease, and bandits, and thousands of travelers never made it to their destinations. Many of the first settlers were criminals who had fled the states to escape sentences or execution. There was little law enforcement except for the occasional band of vigilantes. There were also few or no women in many areas.

Territorial Disputes with Britain

The manifest-destiny fervor exacerbated territorial tensions with Britain—tensions that had been mounting since the War of 1812. Although some disputes had been temporarily settled during Monroe’s and Adams’s presidencies, several major issues remained unresolved.

Oregon and 54° 40‘

Britain and the United States also clashed over the Oregon Territory, and the dispute proved harder to solve. The two countries had occupied the territory jointly until 1828, at which time Britain had offered the United States everything south of the 49th parallel—the present-day border between Washington State and Canada.

Most Americans, however, wanted nothing less than the entire territory, everything up to the 54° 40' parallel (up to the southern tip of Alaska). Although Britain had better claims to the land, the number of Americans in the territory far outnumbered the British, who numbered only several hundred. This unresolved issue, a hot topic in the election of 1840, was not resolved until several years later.

The Lone Star Republic

The other major land issue in the 1840s was Texas, which had declared its independence from Mexico in 1836 and had immediately requested U.S. statehood. Northern Whigs and opponents of slavery, however, protested the creation of another state in the South and blocked the move to annex the fledgling country in Congress.

The U.S. neutrality pledge also prevented it from interfering. So for the time being, the United States could offer nothing more than formal recognition. Mexico tried several times over the next decade to reconquer their rebellious Texas province without success.

The U.S.-Mexican War

Events

1844 James K. Polk is elected president 1845 The U.S. annexes Texas 1846 U.S. resolves dispute over Oregon with Britain, U.S.-Mexican War erupts, John Frémont seizes California 1847 General Winfield Scott captures Mexico City 1848 United States and Mexico sign Treaty of

Guadalupe Hidalgo

Key People

James K. Polk - Eleventh U.S. president; expansionist Democrat from Kentucky; acquired Oregon and California; fought the Mexican war Henry Clay - Unsuccessful Whig candidate against Polk in 1844 election Zachary Taylor - Twelfth U.S. president; Mexican War hero; tried to dodge controversy over westward expansion of slavery

The Election of 1844

For the election of 1844, the Democrats nominated Speaker of the House James K. Polk on a platform supporting the annexation of Texas and demanding all of the Oregon Territory to the 54° 40' line. The Whigs, having formally kicked President John Tyler out of their party, Whigs selected Henry Clay (his third presidential bid).

The new antislavery Liberty Party also nominated a weak candidate, mainly for show. In the end, though, Polk won 170 electoral votes to Clay’s 105; surprisingly, the Liberty Party stole just enough votes from Clay to tip the election toward the Democrats.

Annexing Texas

Tyler, concluding that Polk’s victory was a mandate from the American people to annex Texas, put the issue to a vote in both houses of Congress. Thus, in 1845, Congress officially annexed the Lone Star Republic. Mexico was outraged: they had refused to recognize Texas independence in 1836 and believed that the rebellious state would one day be reconquered. After the annexation announcement, Mexico withdrew its ambassador from Washington, D.C.

Then, a border dispute exacerbated the situation: whereas the United States claimed that Texas extended all the way south to the Río Grande, Mexico claimed that Texas was smaller, ending further north at the Nueces River. Both sides sent troops to the region, the Americans camping north of the Nueces and the Mexicans to the south of the Río Grande.

Acquiring Oregon

Acquiring Oregon was not difficult but did spark controversy. Recognizing that it could never win the population war in Oregon, Britain proposed giving the United States all of Oregon south of the 49th parallel rather than quarreling for the entire territory up to 54° 40'. The Senate agreed to the compromise, despite protests from many Americans who wanted the entire territory.

Polk Asks for War

California was more difficult. In 1845, Polk sent an envoy to Mexico City to offer Mexico as much as $30 million for present-day California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. The envoy, however, was never even allowed to make the offer and instead was ordered out of the country. Polk then ordered General Zachary Taylor and 1,500 troops to prepare to march to the Río Grande. Provoked, Mexican troops crossed the Río Grande and attacked Taylor in April 1 846.

Immediately after he received the news, Polk “reluctantly” requested Congress to declare war. Congress granted Polk’s request after much debate. Whigs were particularly skeptical about who had actually started the war. Abraham Lincoln—then a congressman from Illinois—continually badgered Polk to identify the exact spot where the Mexicans had engaged Taylor. These “spot resolutions” gave the president a black eye and led many to believe that Polk had wanted and provoked the war himself.

The Mexican War

The United States did not lose a single battle during the two-year war. Several months after the war had begun, John Frémont—an explorer and Polk’s agent in California—seized Los Angeles and accepted California’s surrender. With California secure, Polk then concentrated on campaigns in Santa Fe, Buena Vista, and Monterrey, and eventually captured Mexico City.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

In 1848, the two sides signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in which Mexico gave up nearly half of its territory to the United States (present-day California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas). The United States agreed to pay Mexico $15 million in

exchange.

Public Opinion of the War

The Mexican War was a fairly popular war with the American people, for land-hungry settlers had been itching for more territory to farm and settle in the West. As a result, tens of thousands of American men enlisted in the army within the span of just two years. The spoils of war were demonstrable, as the size of the United States increased by a third.

For politicians, however, the war opened a huge can of worms. Accusations flew over who had actually started the war and why the war was being fought. Many Whigs (and historians) questioned Polk’s motives, believing that the war was more about California and manifest destiny than it was

about Texas or U.S. security.

A Renewed Debate Over Slavery

The war also renewed old debates on the westward expansion of slavery; some historians have claimed that in many ways the Mexican War was the first round between the North and South in the Civil War. On one side were the Whigs and a growing number of abolitionists in the North, who were adamantly against letting slavery spread.

Against them stood the entire South and a majority of Democrats, who believed that expanding slavery was essential to the survival of their economy and society. This debate became the major issue—really the only issue—during the next decade until the outbreak of the Civil War.